Vegetarian vs Omnivore

For all those vegetarians out there that think meat eaters are dumb and fat please click here. Just so you know you won't inherit the earth from us anytime soon.

The Idle Educator

Recently I was in a meeting that brought up a sore issue of mine and basically rubbed salt in the wound about video games and education. First of all, I'd like to point out that I know less than a handful of educators that actually play video games (out of the vast many I know) which makes this a completely foreign topic to them. This in turn ruffles my feathers when I hear them talking about something they have no clue about in a scholarly method. It's like watching a bunch of older people trying to be hip with the new trendy teenage lingo...awkward and robotic.

This subject has been on the debate block inside my organization (and others previous to this) for a while now and I couldn't quite figure out what really bothered me about the whole subject besides the fact that they're trying to take something I hold dearly and bastardize it into a cardboard cut out of it's former self (if you've ever heard the game ideas educators have...oh boy). However, this recent meeting finally gave me the epiphany that I was looking for, it's not that educators want to use video games, like I had thought. It's the fact that they want a perfect game RIGHT NOW without all the years of hard work the game industry has put into it to make it what it is today OR the research to see what today's big name games offer education.

I'd like to use World of Warcraft (WoW) as the example to press this since this is the most hotly debated game at these meetings. To begin with, WoW was not produced in a night. In fact, it didn't just pop out of Blizzard's creation team's head either. This game is a product of the industries' evolution. If you've ever played the Warcraft games that came before WoW, you'd know that each gets progressively better. You can also see that they've borrowed elements from other MMORPG's such as Ultima, Everquest, and others (each which went through their own evolutionary processes). That being said, WoW took all that had come before it, weeded out the best elements of those games and put them together to make what it is work. This is not something that just materialized, it EVOLVED.

I think Educators fail to realize this. They don't understand that WoW was built with the foundations of past gaming experiences. They think that it's some phenomena that just popped out of the air with no past to collect from. And this leads me to my second pet peeve, the inability to research.

Educators are supposed to be the ones that collect data and interpret it for the public (this is a very loose definition). Yet I find it amazing at the lack of research they do on subjects such as this since they don't see research as relevant. Since it isn't scholarly, they don't need to look at it in a scholarly way. I find this appalling since most instant hits in today's world aren't considered scholarly at all, which squeezes what is considered scholarly into a continually smaller space labeled "boring."

You want a WoW for your class or museum, then why aren't you researching why it's so big? Why aren't you looking at the history of it? Stop looking at this in a one-dimensional way and LEARN about it. Teach Greek mythology by referencing God of War or World War II with Medal of Honor by utilizing what's already out there. Perhaps you need to find ways to incorporate video games into learning instead of trying to force learning into video games?

Move your body

This weekend I spent with some friends enjoying the sites of the city and saying goodbye to one of us moving to a location too far away to casually visit. For this special occasion we went to a Moroccan restaurant with a belly dancer. I absolutely love watching belly dancers but not for the reason you think. Belly dancing is gorgeous just like yoga or swimming in the sense that you're utilizing your body to shape and move the way you want it to through control and practice. It's a celebration of just what our bodies are capable of. It's fascinating what the human body can do when it's trained and the best part is that almost anyone can learn how to do it.

While I was with my friends there were a few comments made about the sexuality of the dance not to mention jealous glances given by woman as they passed. This distracted me for a bit with a few questions. Is the dance really that sensual? Is it the fact that the girl is young and pretty? Is it our western view of the core of the body being a sexual part of a woman?

I'd first like to point out that belly dancing has a lot in common with exercises used for child birth. This being stated, scholars believe that this dance may have stemmed from these exercises making it on a whole a dance for fertility and healthy child birth. It also was a dance women usually only did in the company of other women (men had other men dancing for them) which means it is a dance only made for women. This gives it a very different perspective I think and makes it seem (to me) more like a celebration of the female body than a celebration of the sexuality of the female body.

For those reasons I don't believe it is as much the movements that make it such a very sensual dance but the confidence a belly dancer shows with her body. The dancer at the restaurant was not perfect in the American sense. Her belly had a small pudge to it, her hair a little strainy, and her breasts were most likely an A cup. However, this did not distract her one bit. She was completely confident with her body and she used every part of it to make her movements soft and fluid. I don't mean to say she was ugly, just that she didn't really care what part of her wasn't perfect, just that she could move it. I'm sure it didn't hurt that she was pretty but I think that all in all it was her confidence that made her shine.

I'd lastly like to point out that ballerinas and other forms of dance also have confident woman in them, however, these dances are very rigid and structured unlike the belly dance. I've never seen a ballerina look like this:

But I've seen alot that look like this:Needless to say, I feel belly dancing is much more of a celebration of the female body than ballet ever will be (since ballerinas look more like men). Therefore making it look more sexual and enticing to the viewer for the confident air the performers have about being woman and moving you body in ways only women can.

Black Adder, Black Adder!

All I have to say is, wow...Rowan Atkinson can talk...and he's even wittier/funnier when he does! As most kids growing up in the US of A knew who he was but only as Mr. Bean. Little did I know this man has done some extremely witty things with his words...and he doesn't always look insanely stupid.

My sister was the first one to introduce me to the show Black Adder. I saw two episodes of the second series and was delighted with it. After two years and a bit of convincing for my Sihaya to actually let the DVD come through Netflix (and stop moving it down the list for other movies) we received and watched the first series. Followed by the second. Then the third. We are waiting the arrival of the fourth and last one but have enjoyed the show thoroughly. The seasons are short, the dialogue is quick, and the situations are hilarious. Good clean (or close to clean) fun for all! I highly recommend this series for those young and silly at heart.



P.S. I forgot to mention this guy is in the last two series also:

Breat of Fire IV

Much to the relief of my sihaya (I've been bothering them alot) I've found a new video game to attach myself to. And seeing that I'm playing a game from 9 years ago, this schpeel has already been done and this game has now faded in the minds of everyone who didn't really care about it in the first place. Which is exactly what it was, a forgettable game in a sub-par series.

The problem with the Breath of Fire series was that if you're not a big fan of dragons (which I actually am...to an unhealthy level) there wasn't really much else for you. The first one had the transformation capabilities of Karn (which only gave you three options) and Ryu. The second one had the transformations of the Shamans, Ryu, and the town building aspect. These two didn't do anything amazing for the C-RPG universe and the stories were pretty bland. The only one I felt was somewhat interesting (but the most frustrating of all) was Breath of Fire III. It began to change itself by adding mini-games to the actually plot of the story instead of adding them as side quests. It also added an apprentice/master system, where you could learn new skills from different teachers or you could acquire other skills from enemies. This installment began trying to spice up the genre a bit, I thought. However, it tried a little too hard by adding one too many mini-games that HAD to be completed before moving on to the next part of the game and this in and of itself took all that progress they had made and shat on it. I cannot describe to you the immense amount of rage unleashed when I was forced to walk across a desert by slowly moving forward and trying to figure out how many steps I needed to take to the East before I turned NorthEast. This very scenario caused me to put down the game for over a year (and picking it back up to finish the game also caused great anguish when I realized the ending was not worth all that effort).

Breath of Fire IV is much in this same vein unfortunately. The graphics are better, the storyline has had a very nice overhaul, and the minigames have been much more tolerable (though there are tons more of them). Nevertheless, there's nothing that truly sticks out to me and I've already screamed at the TV roughly around three or four times through 10 hours of gameplay. I think most of this is due to the odd camera angle, which is diagonal based though the controller is not. This makes walking up ladders and into doors extremely trying at times. All in all, this is a great game if you like staring at dragons and just need something to waste time that you're not too committed to (so you can put it down at any moment and never touch it again). For anyone else, just keep it where it was in your mind before I wrote this, in the stuff I forgot category.

I am the who that watches the watchmen

I went to go watch the Watchmen in the theaters this past weekend and I'd just like to make a comment on the movie. It didn't completely enamor me like 300 did (the same guy directed it) and I could definitely see elements from his style but it was surprisingly good.

I didn't expect much from it since Watchmen has a slow paced not very action packed story (that doesn't make it bad by all means, it's perfect the way it is) which usually doesn't transfer well to the big screen but Zack Snyder (the director) did a good job straddling the fence. He definitely kept it faithful enough to the graphic novel that fans could enjoy it but added enough action so that it would still be entertaining, even for those who haven't read it. I do recommend reading the graphic novel before you go see it.

Oh, and don't take the young ones because there is a full sex scene and a lot of Dr. Manhattan's blue penis and Miss Jupiter's boobies...

China v. Japan

So I've been on hiatus due to balancing laziness with studying asian and buddhist art history (I know, they're very VERY similar...in fact, some of you might think it's the same thing). I've especially been trying to get past India/Pakistan beginnings of Buddhist art into later versions of it from China and Japan (Korea hasn't peeked my interest yet even though they are a very key player in the history of Buddhism). Okay, now that I've given a background for my schpeel here it is.

I'm starting to find myself really shocked at how people in American culture praise all things Japanese yet think all things Chinese cheap and unappealing. I know American culture doesn't really help with things like cheap products from Chinese soil or the infamous slop we call Chinese food and all high priced trendy things such as sushi and video games coming from Japan but if you take a closer look at the two you'll notice quite the opposite.

For those of you not familiar with these two Asian superpowers, here's the lowdown. China is the vast empire that spans much of Asia with all those billions of people while Japan is a little fishing island that wasn't suitably populated for a few hundred years after China. Looking at their accomplishments, you'd see that China is the earliest known country to have created bronze and established cities and government centers. Japan is mroe famously known for innovating nintendo. China has given us movies like Hero, Once Upon a Time in China, and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Japan is known for Pokemon. China is known for Bruce Lee. Japan is known for this guy...


Once upon a time in High School, I had a science teacher that absolutely hated the French because he said they stole all their good ideas from other countries (besides prostition all other things we know of as french are from other cultures if you think about it). Japan's the France of Asia. And China would most likely be Italy. You know, the place the reniassance happened in.

So to sum this rant all up, China is cooler than Japan in so many ways. At least China's DONE something besides make anime. I mean, it's pretty sad when the best film director you've had died ten years ago and no one has taken his place. So stop thinking Japan is chic, it should be China you're looking at.